What Damages Tooth Enamel More: Sour Candy or Battery Acid?

Some sour candies are nearly as acidic as battery acid, making them very damaging to tooth enamel. Battery acid has a potenz hydrogen (pH) level of about 1.0, while WarHeads Sour Spray® and Wonka Fun Dip® Powder have a pH of about 1.6 and 1.8, respectively. Although this isn't as close as it sounds — the pH scale is logarithmic, so a 1.0 is 100 times more acidic than a 2.0 &mash; teeth start to decalcify at a pH of about 4.0, meaning that candy such as Sprees®, Wonka Laffy Taffy® and Lemon Heads® are all acidic enough to damage tooth enamel.

More facts about teeth and pH:

Although these products can be damaging to teeth, saliva does act as a buffer and can mitigate some of the effects of the acid.

Sour candies aren't the only food products that have highly acidic pH levels. Oranges and grapes both have relatively acidic pH levels, as do fruit juices — particularly lemonade.

Acid isn't the only thing that can damage teeth. Eating lots of sugars also can damage tooth enamel. When the sugar is in a person's mouth, it interacts with certain bacteria and damages the structure of tooth enamel. This can lead to decalcification and cavities.